According to my father, who served in the Army in WW II, a number of GIs poisoned themselves celebrating VE day with antifreeze. These were young men, not particularly educated.
I've heard similar versions of this story, with the added anecdote being that the use of diluted alcohol as antifreeze wasn't unheard of prior to the use of ethylene glycol becoming commonplace.
That ties into the anecdotes of Parisians shouting "Viva Le Prestone!"[1] as troops moved through their city - each Jeep had "Prestone" stenciled on the hood, partially to mark that it'd been treated with antifreeze, and partially to warn GIs against attempting to drink it.
